Today, I made an attempt at those buns again and they were mildy better, though not nearly as good as I thought they would be. The dough is still kinda soft and spongy, not biscuity like the ones I used to get in China town. I did experiment with different sizes with humongous buns and little tiny buns, each with various amounts of filling. I found it pretty difficult to get just the right medium size. When I was finished, the whole batch looked liked franken-buns laid out on a plate. But nonetheless they tasted pretty good and I saved a good number for the rest of the week. I also made a stirfry with the same ingredients I used for the stuffing, plus chopped garlic and onions. The rice came out perfect. I have to say the improvement in the rice is encouraging because it means I am improving. The rice I used to make would always come out soggy, or occasionally undercooked with hard centers. After I cooked, I played some Yahoo! Pool which was pretty interesting because I played in a tournament and discovered a little underworld of cheaters and vigilantes in the Yahoo games society. The tournaments are run by people who are part of a league that is administrated with various rules and regulations. The host of the tournaments does not play, but organizes the standings and ensures fair play. This is where it got interesting. I made it to the finals in one of the tournaments and played against a dude who kicked my butt. He made an incredible last shot banking the cue ball off a rail to hit the eight straight on and into the corner pocket. I thought it was just a lucky shot, but then the host said that he had detected an auto-aimer, which is a software hack that allows one to calibrate perfect shots in Yahoo pool. Apparently, this program hacks into the Yahoo applet so that the aiming bars can be extended and a mathematically perfect shot can be lined up. I had no idea such a program existed, though I had heard rumors about it. Furthermore, I had no idea that even if such a program did exist, there was another program that could detect it on your computer. I checked the internet and found this entire community of cheaters and boosters (people who use other hacks to artificially increase their ratings) with their own websites, discussion boards, etc. It was pretty amazing. There is some kind of active trade of "rares" and high rating yahoo ids as if they were collectibles. There is also a high demand for "stars". There are also people who are "rippers" which as far as I could tell is a person who rips you off by agreeing to exchange ids but never follows through with his end of the bargain. I still haven't figured out what it is all about. The really curious thing about these websites is that everyone seems to speak like an eight year old. Anyway, getting back to the "auto-aimer" and the "auto-aimer detector" controversy, it is pretty clear that auto-aimers exist, but it is not at all clear whether auto-aimer detectors exist. The most informative website I found on the topic was the website selling one version of the auto-aimer and it vehemently denies the existence of an aimer detector. Even so, there are other discussion boards where people claim to have detectors, but no links to download sites. I doubt they exist as pure auto-aimer detectors but I'm sure there are ways to figure out what software a particular computer is running.

Unbeknownst to me, when I named this blog Grilled Mackerel, the number one draw to my blog would be searches for "grilled mackerel". I think this is the number one or at least one of the top five website hits for "grilled mackerel". Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know a single thing about grilling mackerel. I do, however, since this afternoon, know how to make steamed chinese buns. I used a recipe I pulled off the web and decided to try to make my own steamed buns for the first time. The recipe I used actually made the dough kind of soft, not the firm white buns I am used to getting in Chinatown, but next time around I will use more flour and less water, or maybe use milk and add an egg. I also used yeast for the first time which was kinda fun. For filling, I cooked up some chinese sausage, bok choy and mushrooms in hoisin sauce. Although they came out pretty tasty I think the next time around they will be a lot better. I will cook up the filling with more sauce so there will be a little steaming hot pocket and so that the cavity wall can suck up some of the juices. I will also use more filling since I realized the bun wall actually increases in thickness during cooking and therefore it is very capable of holding quite a lot. Like I said I will also use a heartier dough, with more flour and milk instead of water. If it is still too soft, I will use an egg yolk. The only technical problem I might have is the size of my steamer which can only hold 2 regular size buns at a time. I may have to get one of those fancy stackable steamers, but I'm not sure it will be worth it. The buns I made didn't quite look like the ones I am used to, mainly because they flattened out during cooking. If the dough is stiffer it will probably keep it's upright shape better.